Newsletter October 2024
The development of Yoga
at the Shanti Ananda School
Our seventh graders S. Akhil and M. Karthikeyan
on the winners' stand at the 2024 Yoga Championship
Dear friends of our Shanti Ananda School!
The 2024 Yogasana Championships for Andhra Pradesh took place in Kurnool from October 5th to 7th. Our seventh graders S. Akhil and M. Karthikeyan won second place as a team of two (since the winners' stand does not have two second places, they are in 2nd and 3rd place at the awards ceremony).
And our yoga teacher B. Prabhavathi, now a yoga judge as well, won third place in this category! These great current yoga successes are the reason for the long-awaited newsletter on the development of yoga at our school - here it is!
Yours, Helga Shanti Fründt
Before I go into medias res, I would like to apologize for the rather modest quality of some of the photos: some are - due to their age - not so brilliant, although still expressive... I very much hope that this does not spoil the reading pleasure too much... 
The history of yoga at
the Shanti Ananda School
When I came to India in October 2006 to 'save' the predecessor of our current school, the Nagananda School, I had a vision of a variety of creative and sporting disciplines in the daily school life.
I wanted to loosen up the one-sided concentration on cognitive subjects - which was still very common at the time - in favor of physical activities. 'Daily yoga and meditation lessons are also planned for all children in the new school year,' I wrote in the German 4/2007 newsletter. In the 2007/08 school year, yoga became a regular part of our timetable for the first time.
Yoga is known to be valuable for the body, soul and spirit and brings joy and enthusiasm to everyday school life - apart from the positive effects on concentration and performance. We have come to this realization again and again over the years through our own experience.
Yoga in the 2008 summer camp
During the 2008 summer holidays we ran a 10-day summer camp for the teachers to provide them with all-round training.
Half a day was dedicated to yoga. 'The teachers were enthusiastic about the asanas (yoga exercises) - for most of them it was the first time in their lives that they had practiced them, even though yoga originates from India!I have rarely seen them as relaxed as they were after that day.
In July, (at that time current) headmaster Chandra Mohan will complete a four-week intensive yoga training course at the Vyasa Institute in Bangalore and will then give professional yoga lessons to the school children,' I wrote in the 3/2008 newsletter.
Flower - group asana in the old school in the Krishna Temple
The children received yoga lessons from the 3rd grade onwards.
Of course, the parents - who often saw cramming as the main activity of the school - had to be convinced of the meaning and benefits of yoga; the academic success of their children quickly showed them the sense of this undertaking.
In the first few years, guest teachers occasionally came; for example, the two German teachers Angelika Gigauri and Andrea Partheymüller-Gerber held yoga workshops for kindergarten children in 2010 and 2011. Many yoga schools at the time still taught that children should not start yoga until they are eight years old. But adapted yoga exercises are useful for small children, in order to bring them 'into their center' and promote physical flexibility. Since then, our kindergarten children have been receiving yoga lessons.
Yoga in kindergarten 2010
Yoga was also part of the Shanti Ananda Education Society's summer holiday courses for the community (e.g. summer camp for making cuddly toys in 2012).
Guest teacher Sheena Nellu Harratt taught laughter yoga in a workshop in 2013; it is said to lead to improved breathing and blood circulation, better performance and creativity, and greater ability to make contact. The children were enthusiastic, and for several years we practiced laughter yoga regularly in the morning ceremony.
Our teachers A. Saraswathi and B. Prabhavathi attended a month-long yoga course at the Shivananda Institute (near Madurai) in 2015 with the focus on yoga exercises for children.
For A. Saraswathi, the course was an additional qualification, and for B. Prabhavathi, it was her first yoga course. This meant that she could teach yoga in addition to her sport, which made a long-held wish of hers come true. Since then, we have had two yoga teachers.
Yoga class with B. Prabhavathi and A. Saraswathi in 2016
in the anteroom of the administration building
On December 11, 2014, the UN declared June 21 as International Yoga Day with Resolution 69/131; this further promoted the awareness and popularity of yoga worldwide. Yoga Day took place for the first time in 2015.
On the 2nd World Yoga Day (June 21, 2016), Prabhavathi was invited to the high school for girls in Mudigubba (government school) to demonstrate yoga with some of our students and thus spread the idea and practice of yoga to other schools. Yoga is very popular with our children; and the entire high school student body enthusiastically took part.
The students at the Government High School for Girls on World Yoga Day 2016
Thanks to further training, satisfactory equipment and the commitment of our yoga teachers, we can offer good yoga lessons.
However, until 2017 there was no special room for yoga. After completing our classrooms in 2016, we therefore planned a covered amphitheater as a multi-purpose hall for yoga, events, workshops and meetings (internal area 7 m Ø and total 13 m Ø). Thanks to the company Yogistar, it was possible to realize it in 2017 - including a full-cover mosaic.
In February 2018, a brilliant event took place there: Vikram, a young yoga teacher from the USA, led a yoga workshop, inspired us with new group and partner games and yoga positions. He got the amphitheater vibrating and in 'full swing' with his rousing energy that day.
Workshop with Vikram in the amphitheater
In 2018 we created a school logo that is reminiscent of a yogasana.
The rose in the background symbolizes the love that
we want to show in our interactions with one another.
In the center is the
OM
the beginning and origin of all creation.
A tree emerges from it.
Or is it a yoga practitioner?
The position could be a headstand...
During the Corona period, we practiced our offline homeschooling including yoga.
Headmaster Raja Sekhar: "In August (2020) we started going to the children's homes once a week. Since November, homeschooling has been taking place four days a week; all of our school children come. While other children are bored at home, ours are doing lots of activities with parents and teachers... We in the teaching staff are always asking ourselves what we can do for the children."
Basics such as reading, writing, speaking and sports disciplines such as yoga were taught outside of school (which was not allowed to be entered during the C period) at several locations in Mudigubba.
Yoga performance in the amphitheater November 2023
Yoga is now a standard part of any kind of presentation, often in conjunction with other disciplines such as karate and dance..
Our students do great things because they love yoga and movement. Thanks to our dedicated yoga teacher B. Prabhavathi, we can look back on outstanding successes today; our school is now known not least because of this discipline."
I am very pleased that the seed of inspiration from 2006 has flourished so well and is now bearing such rich fruit in 2024!
Teacher B. Prabhavathi (left) as yoga judge at the Yoga Championship 2024
With warm regards from India,
Yours, Helga Shanti Fründt
Contact
Shanti Ananda School Website
Shanti Ananda School on Facebook
Donation Accounts
FCRA account
Shanti Ananda Education Society
State Bank of India, New Delhi Main Branch
40043801956
IFSC: SBIN0000691
General Account
Shanti Ananda Education Society
Andhra Bank, Mudigubba Branch
Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh, India
185410100193769
IFSC: UBIN0818542
German Donation Account
Shanti Ananda Education Society
Anahata Stiftung, Munich, Bank für Sozialwirtschaft
BLZ: 700 205 00
IBAN: DE72700205003751241124
BIC: BFSWDE33MUE